Double Up

Not one but two consecutive wins in the league, taking us to 3rd position and two points away from the leaders. We couldn't ask for a better position just before the Crop Over break. A dominating win over YMPC is only the beginning of better things to come.

Arriving at Beckles Road to find a wicket that would guarantee a result after the 3 days of cricket. We won the toss and decided to have a bowl at our hosts. "Spinners paradise" would have been the perfect description of the wicket, so when I state that our left arm orthodox, Chad Reifer took 11 wickets in the match, don't be appalled. We bowled them out for 163 in their first innings, we replied with 209, led by a masterful knock by Diego Stuart, getting 90* on a difficult batting surface and about 60% of his runs coming with some delightful over cover six hitting. It was a gem to watch.

We had the advantage in their second innings, 165 all out leaving us with 120 to win. But the challenge came from Mother Nature, with a few interruptions by some inclement showers, and the fading light, we knew our run chase required some urgency in order to reach our target. We executed very well with just the loss of 4 wickets. Stuart again in the runs with a quick fire 23.

We returned to our home ground for the next match against Carlton. We are all aware of the benefits of playing on your home ground. You have every chance of gaining maximum batting points as we have one of the best batting wickets around the island. So I couldn't comprehend why the captain of Carlton would win the toss but choose to put us in to bat. 326 in our first and only innings of the match proved to be enough. Half centuries by Kraigg, Kirk, and the man that can't do any wrong this season, Diego who led our charge. Let's all fail to remember that I didn't even bother the scorers this time.

I think the highlight of our success this season is due to players taking great initiative to step up when it wasn't another guy’s day. This time it was one of our seasonal players Gary Belle with his off-breaks, taking his first 5'fer of the season, ending with 8 in the game. Great to see different players coming up with top performances.

1 hour & 49 minutes was all the time needed on day 3 to win by an innings and 103 runs. Enough time for myself and a few of our batters to get an afternoon net session and an early Sunday victory brew....I could taste the Guinness all over again.

Our next game will be after the Crop Over break against LIME at Dayrells Road on the 10th of August. Not like I take part in any of the events, but I do have my 26th birthday coming up. But I'll take this time away from the game to work on some weak areas in my game and be ready time our next match. It's never a break in this career for me, always work to be done!

My cuppa is on the verge of getting cold, so this is where I'll send my thanks to all reading and I'll catch you guys later!

Only A Matter Of Time

I am rather tardy with my blog this time around, but I’ll put the blame on the tennis action displayed at Wimbledon. I am also sad to affirm that we’re still seeking our first winafter our 4th 3−day match against BCL.

We got off to a relatively good start playing on our home ground with our guests winning the toss, also deciding to have first hit on the wicket which appeared to have plenty of runs. They were bowled out for 266 far under what was a decent score on that wicket.

Our openers saw the few overs for the remainder of day one, taking us into day two on a pitch flatter than a pancake after being compressed by a steam roller. We declared at 410-9, which was led by a top knock by Kraigg Brathwaite, who made 121, who always seem to score a hundred every time he plays this season. Diego Stuart and Craigg Holder supported well with half centuries to their name. I got a decent start but fell short for 29.

The highlight for us was our bowling performance in the second innings on day 3 with Jamar Layne, one of our seam bowlers, who came back into the squad after injuries kept him out since last season, and took 5 for 35.What a tremendous effort on such a good batting wicket.

We bowled them out late on day 3 but they passed our lead on first innings and added an extra 80 or so, by the time we had the chance to chase down the runs it was after 6pm, and if possible had 6 overs to get that total. Only one ball was bowled in our second innings leaving us with a draw in the bag with valuable bonus points.

We play away in our next fixture against our neighbors YMPC. One of the best teams in the tournament, so we'll have to play exceptional as anticipated in order to excel!